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Outshined_One

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Everything posted by Outshined_One

  1. Outshined_One
    Another name I discounted way back in the day. Points to you on the comp.
  2. Outshined_One
    The stuff is there for him to be a dominant major leaguer, but he has the triple whammy of control problems, being a likely relief pitcher in the majors, and having a long line of guys ahead of him for spots in the pen in 2024. Injuries happen and bullpens are weird, so it's possible, but, as far as my opinion goes, he's not a personal favorite at the moment.
  3. Outshined_One
    I'm all in favor of dealing from your strength, but this is the sort of deal that would have opened up multiple holes in the Cubs' 2024 and 2025 rotation and bullpen.
  4. Outshined_One
    I don't mind contractual tripwires, but there literally is no contract in play here. This isn't about ensuring teams hold up their ends of the bargain, but instead it's a negotiating ploy meant to keep teams from posturing and leveraging against him to (in theory) maximize his contract. The problem is, Ohtani's approach to free agency injected an element of hostility into his negotiations, to the point where teams are incentivized to engage in bizarre theatrics and cloak and dagger levels of secrecy. So far as we know, he hasn't required teams to sign a non-disclosure agreement or non-disparagement agreement; this is just Ohtani making threats to teams based on some perceived nebulous invasion of privacy where no privacy can realistically be expected. Again, he's entitled to handle his negotiations the way he wants, and I hope he gets the money he deserves, but that doesn't immunize him from criticism in how he's handling these negotiations.
  5. Outshined_One
    See also: FLICK
  6. Outshined_One
    ESPN has an article up this morning regarding how Ohtani's approach to free agency is doing a disservice to baseball due to the secrecy and rumors surrounding his decision. While I understand he is entitled to do everything he thinks will get him the best contract possible, at the same time, the cloak and dagger has seemingly has spilled over into all of free agency and the trade market. Nobody has any good information about anything, so we're just stuck with navel gazing and hunting for purported sources who back up our existing worldviews. I get that past offseasons have been similar, but it feels like the stakes are just so much higher with the best baseball player on the planet hitting free agency in the middle of his prime, along with possible franchise-altering guys like Soto and Yamamoto in the mix.. This approach has made what should have been an exciting and entertaining offseason into something that's abjectly depressing, simply because no one seems to know anything and it's all just guesswork and gut feelings. The Cubs could be in the lead for all three of those guys, or they could have left the market for each long ago, but we simply just don't know.
  7. Outshined_One
    Unless there's a pitch lab for infielders to improve velocity on their throws (and knowing the Cubs, maybe there is), I wouldn't set your heart on Shaw at 3B any time soon.
  8. Outshined_One
    One of my Cubs predictions I've been tinkering with is that Brown ends the 2024 season as closer, and not because of injuries. His stuff seems tailor-made for late inning relief, and there have been enough questions with Brown's health and durability that it might make more sense to get him innings in AAA until it's clear his command/control issues are in the past, and then promote him for a relief role. Then again, he also could be excellent trade bait for a pitching hungry team. Horton is more difficult to project in this area. I can see the value if you're concerned about IP and pitch counts, but I also don't want to deviate from what's worked for him so far. I also think he might be better off sticking as a starter in 2024 to develop his changeup, which he'll at least need as a show me pitch to make it as a starter in the majors.
  9. Outshined_One
    I'd rather watch Michigan/Bama than Michigan/FSU anyways. The hilarity will be when Bama/Texas is the national championship game and FSU wins their bowl game. When was the last time a Power 5 team ended the postseason undefeated and didn't play in the national championship game?
  10. Outshined_One
    *Sigh* FINE.
  11. Outshined_One
    It's more that those 19 PAs served as corroboration (but not confirmation!) of my existing doubts. We've seen plenty of guys go through equally bad stretches and lots of guys who later thrived despite initially bad callups, and I expect PCA will inevitably join those groups, but it's sincerely annoying to see it happen.
  12. Outshined_One
    It's fun to dream...but man, that callup added doubts I sincerely didn't want to have about PCA. His entire stint was reminiscent of Bad Javy Baez, from clueless plate appearances to TOOTBLANs. Granted, Javy is one of my all time favorites and I love the guy to pieces, and it was sincerely unfair of the Cubs to hotshot PCA's callup into a massive pressure situation in the midst of a historic collapse, but it ended up being a really bad outcome for PCA. He's still my #1 guy on the farm and a legitimate Top 20 prospect in MLB. The potential is unquestionably there and we saw him flourish in the minors. However, I also don't want the Cubs (or PCA, for that matter) to assume that he'll be the opening day CF in 2024. It's a bit of a conundrum, given that the Cubs should see him as a key contributor in 2024, but I get the sense he's also the type who would benefit from having to prove himself in Spring Training and/or AAA next season.
  13. Outshined_One
    I feel like the McCaskeys are the near equivalent of what would happen if you were to let a bunch of Score callers take over Bears ownership.
  14. Outshined_One
    Welcome!
  15. Outshined_One
  16. Outshined_One
    My most recent weirdass dream draft scenario that I put together while bored in the office today would be for the Bears to trade back from one of their first round picks, nab an early second rounder, take MHJr and either Latu or Fashanu with their first two picks, and then trade back up into the mid 20s to take McCarthy or Nix if either falls to that range. It's foolproof, I tells ya.
  17. Outshined_One
    Injuries are inevitable with rotations, sad to say. Even if the Cubs manage to bolster the rotation this offseason with Yamamoto or Imanaga, someone's going to go down with something, or someone is going to need time to deal with dead arm, and that'll be Horton's time. Or hell, maybe the Cubs will tinker with piggybacking him and Wicks or him and Assad to save his innings to get him deeper into September/October. Needless to say, I am legitimately excited for him. His highlight reel from this past season was pure filth, and it's been awhile since the Cubs had a SP prospect of his caliber.
  18. Outshined_One
    The one thing I don't want is to be having this exact same argument a year from now regarding Fields and Flus/Getsy. If they want to trade Fields, draft Williams, and give a clean slate to Flus/Getsy, fine. Not ideal, but fine. Same goes for them keeping Fields, drafting MHJ, and launching Flus/Getsy into the sun, fine. Also not ideal, but fine. If you want to launch all of them and start over, also also fine.
  19. Outshined_One
    That's the fun of message boards; you get to debate dumb horsefeathers like this, even when the team sucks. Perry getting waived just adds fuel to the fire.
  20. Outshined_One
    But it's more fun if we discuss it like a bunch of bored Victorian Era housewives!
  21. Outshined_One
    Assuming the Bears end up picking Top 5 (i.e. they win, at most, only one more game this season), I just don't see how Kevin Warren can look at this roster and coaching staff, and think that it would be an awesome idea to get the band back together for another run in 2024. Flus is a complete dolt, Getsy's play calling is maddeningly inconsistent, and there's no consensus on whether Fields is a lost cause. Part of me would be fine with keeping Poles and giving him a crack at his own QB and a new coaching staff, but I'm really skeptical about his ability to put together a winning roster.
  22. Outshined_One
    There's a rumor floating around that Corey Perry's unofficial suspension happened because he took his "father figure to Connor Bedard" role a wee bit too far on the team's most recent road trip.
  23. Outshined_One
    ...yay?
  24. Outshined_One
    Oh goody, more short passes.
  25. Outshined_One
    Burn it to the ground, sow the fields with salt, move the team to London.
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